


Don't Want No More of Army Life

by Eliyes



Category: Invaders (Marvel)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:51:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliyes/pseuds/Eliyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How many times did he have to say "no"?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Want No More of Army Life

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Livejournal May 31, 2013.

 

Toro walked out of the shop with his arms loaded with groceries, took in the uniformed military personnel plainly waiting for him, and snorted.

"This again," he muttered, then called a sardonic, "Hi, fellas."

The two lower-ranking ones, a master sergeant and a major, exchanged a glance, but the colonel just calmly replied, "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Raymond."

" _Mister_ ," he corrected. "I'm retired. It's _Mister_ Raymond now."

The colonel inclined his head slightly. "Let's discuss that somewhere more private."

And Toro knew an order phrased as a suggestion when he heard one.

"No."

The colonel's face stiffened, the major began to look irritated, and the master sergeant nearly smirked.

"Look, I'll make this easy for you," Toro offered, waving the arm that held, among other things, the flour. "I'm not going back to the Army, probably ever. I still respect the men and women who risk their lives defending their country, and I believe that a lot of what I did had to be done. But the brass has given me plenty of reason not to trust them to use me right, and I am too damn old to be a jig LT anymore, and an honorary one at that. I retired for good when my father died, to lead a quiet life. I am still at it."

"But your father is back," the major pointed out. Toro mentally gave her points for not questioning the family term. "And you've already been doing things that aren't what I'd call a 'quiet life'."

He shrugged. "I'm in the Avengers reserve. Shit happens."

"And if the Torch were to work with the Army again --" the colonel began, but stopped at Toro's loud laugh.

"Oh, man. Listen, I know exactly what he's into, and if you can ask that, you clearly don't have access to a classification level high enough to be making any offers to _me_. You have yourselves a nice day."

Toro turned and walked away. His shoulders itched to have them at his back, more than half-expecting a tranq dart or a knockout grenade -- hell, a sleep ray wasn't out of the realm of possibility. But nothing happened, adn when he glanced back out of the corner of his eye as he rounded the corner, they were gone.

"Gonna have to mention that to Pappy," he muttered to himself. "Hell, maybe Cap can do something to get them off my back..."


End file.
